World Cup 2026

[sockeye]

It’s England yeah but this year really felt like it was going to be our year. Struggling to process it to be honest. We’ve had a great run the last few tournaments but always come undone at the end. Our squad is getting slightly weaker, but when Kane’s gone we will be a damn sight weaker and than isn’t far off. Heartbreaking. 

Edited 7 hours ago by sockeye

[Saint Scott]

A painful way to go out, but easily summarised for me.

We wait all tournament to play on the counter with our attacking players. Instead, Tuchel parks the bus with over 30 minutes to play. 

Argentinas prayers answered, allowing the best football player of all time to have bags of space and freedom to express himself. 

It was inevitable.

[Elmore Saint]

I accept that finishing 3rd or 4th is a par score for where we are ranked.

I can't accept that we went 1 up and then just shat ourselves. For all that Kane is saying that the instruction was to continue to go forward, the subs Tuchel made spoke differently. The game was ours for the taking and we gave it away with a whimper. 

 

[BotleySaint]

You always meet that chippy non-football person who says "Ah well, at least you made the semi final!!" with false enthusiasm. Like that's meant to make you feel better..... 

[Football Special]

Disappointing, reminded me a bit of our fa cup semi final defeat to Man City 

Cant really argue with the result overall but we'd been allowed to dream and get our hopes up. 

Been a shit world cup overall, just a shame the stadiums were so full justifying FIFAs disgusting prices 

[Osvaldorama]

Exactly…If he was positive with his subs, absolutely no one would be complaining at losing. 
 

Theres no shame going out in the semis to the world champions. The shame comes from the cowardly pathetic decisions that he made, and I want him gone ASAP. 

[Sheaf Saint]

22 minutes ago, aintforever said:

We went too passive before he made the subs. I didn't agree with taking Gordon off for a defender, I would have stuck Saka on and tried to hit them on the break but fact is, a top side would have seen the game out.

If the team has gone too passive after taking a lead, then it is the manager's job to identify that and make the right subs and tactical tweaks to overcome it. 

He utterly failed to do that and his subs made our shape and organisation into a disjointed mess that only exacerbated the problem. 

That is 100% on Tuchel.

[Turkish]

38 minutes ago, aintforever said:

I don't agree with his subs but a top team would have seen the game out. 

 

41 minutes ago, aintforever said:

Classic English response, blame the manager. If it's not the manager it's because the Premier League play too many games, or we are not teaching the kids right etc etc.

There always has to be an excuse, it can't possibly be that we are just not good enough at football.

 

31 minutes ago, aintforever said:

We went too passive before he made the subs. I didn't agree with taking Gordon off for a defender, I would have stuck Saka on and tried to hit them on the break but fact is, a top side would have seen the game out.

Dont blame the manager, but at the same time saying you didn't agree with anything he did in the last 30 minutes. Classic Aintclever 😂

[trousers]

It's almost as if people are taking the bait of an obvious contrarian....

[Hawkswood]

51 minutes ago, Turkish said:

We don’t sit at the top table. Were the Newcastle, Spurs, Aston Villa or Everton of internationals. However we had enough to beat Argentina, the last 30 minutes played right into their hands. We only had 12% possession because we had so many defenders on and no outlet when we did get it forward, that’s on Tuchel. 

Even before we had all the defenders on they were swarming all over us. He had to make a choice and made the decision that has worked in the past.  We simply dont have the type of player that has the same type of technical ability that the argies or Spanish have who can take a touch, find space and release pressure. Again, just how i see it.

[Streaky]

1 minute ago, Hawkswood said:

Even before we had all the defenders on they were swarming all over us. He had to make a choice and made the decision that has worked in the past.  We simply dont have the type of player that has the same type of technical ability that the argies or Spanish have who can take a touch, find space and release pressure. Again, just how i see it.

Bollocks, nothing in the game intill we scored then tuchel done a Southgate and decided to defend the box for the rest of the game which doesn't work against trams like them. He fucked up.

[Hawkswood]

1 minute ago, Streaky said:

Bollocks, nothing in the game intill we scored then tuchel done a Southgate and decided to defend the box for the rest of the game which doesn't work against trams like them. He fucked up.

Agreed, nothing in the game till we scored, then Scaloni made some great tactical changes that we simply couldnt cope with. Anyway, as always its about perception.

[skintsaint]

Fabregas nails it here....and exactly what happened.

 

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1602713398107011

[Saint NL]

Kick Tuchel out today and let Jordan Henderson manage the third place play off. He'll need help putting the cones out while he has only one arm.

[sadoldgit]

8 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Exactly…If he was positive with his subs, absolutely no one would be complaining at losing. 
 

Theres no shame going out in the semis to the world champions. The shame comes from the cowardly pathetic decisions that he made, and I want him gone ASAP. 

I don’t disagree that he made tactical errors after we scored but he has to be given credit for taking a slightly above average team to the semi finals of the World Cup. We rode our luck in the earlier rounds and that was always going to run out. Several posters made the pont that we were the fourth best team in the semis, and so it proved. Yes, he has overall responsibility for the loss, but he should also be given credit for getting that far in the first place. Better teams than us went out in earlier rounds.

[sadoldgit]

21 minutes ago, Streaky said:

Bollocks, nothing in the game intill we scored then tuchel done a Southgate and decided to defend the box for the rest of the game which doesn't work against trams like them. He fucked up.

Not true though. Argentina showed signs of stepping up a gear before we scored. In the first half they seemed content to put us off our stride with lots of niggly fouls. They came out in the second half and started to play football. They did the same against Egypt and will probably to the same against Spain. They were written off early on as too old and past it. Clearly they are not.

As for us, did anyone really think we would make the semis before a ball was kicked in this competition? 

What did Lineker say about Tuchel? “60% genius, 40% psychopath.”  I think we have seen that over the last few weeks!
 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by sadoldgit

[saintant]

After we scored we should have kept two wingers high up the pitch and Kane at centre forward with Bellingham as the link to give Argentina reason to fear a counter attack. Rice and Anderson protecting plus the back four in place was a better bet than 11 back and booting the ball knowing it's coming straight back at us. 

With 11 back we didn't even defend sensibly which was demonstrated by the fact that Argentina still had acres of space down both flanks to enable them to put dangerous crosses in. Again we didn't defend those crosses with 5'9" MacAllister winning numerous headers in the centre of goal. All the while Messi was patrolling and pulling the strings. Quite simply England scored then turned into headless chickens and played the remainder of the game exactly how Argentina would have wanted.

Edited 6 hours ago by saintant

[Sheaf Saint]

[Turkish]

41 minutes ago, Hawkswood said:

Even before we had all the defenders on they were swarming all over us. He had to make a choice and made the decision that has worked in the past.  We simply dont have the type of player that has the same type of technical ability that the argies or Spanish have who can take a touch, find space and release pressure. Again, just how i see it.

We have them going forward, Palmer, Foden, Grealish a few years ago were these sort of player that we dont use properly. In this tournament we went for pace and strength as usual instead then didn't use it properly.

What we've lack for years is that controlling central midfield player, a player that can dictate the tempo, do the simple things well, keep the ball moving etc. Michael Carrick was the nearest thing we've had to that in recent years and IMO should have been the first name on Englands team sheet in those days.  We dont seem to like those sort of players when we have them they get labelled as boring, sideways & backwards type players because they're not spectacular, exciting players who score goals and create chance after chance.

[Wurzel]

The last 25 minutes needed someone fast - probably Saka - on the pitch and told to stay on the halfway line and chase every clearance. No way would he have been left unmarked so 1 or 2 fewer in attack for our defence to deal with. And any ball he successfully chased you can almost guarantee he'd have been fouled, breaking their momentum and ensuring the ball wasn't coming straight back every time. 

 

Edited 6 hours ago by Wurzel

[Turkish]

12 minutes ago, Wurzel said:

The last 25 minutes needed someone fast - probably Saka - on the pitch and told to stay on the halfway line and chase every clearance. No way would he have been left unmarked so 1 or 2 fewer in attack for our defence to deal with. And any ball he successfully chased you can almost guarantee he'd have been fouled, breaking their momentum and ensuring the ball wasn't coming straight back every time. 

 

I know Grealish is past his best and injured but it was made for someone like him, give him the ball, keep hold of it, win free kicks, slow the game down and he has that quality in tight spaces to create something, but we NEVER use players like that properly. It's always about speed and strength.

[Doctoroncall]

2 hours ago, Hawkswood said:

Gonna make myself unpopular here but I dont necessarily blame Tuchel for the defeat. The harsh reality is that we dont sit on the top table of footballing nations. Argentina were just very very impressive in that last 35 minutes and showed what champions are made off and not forgetting it also helps when you have arguably the greatest footballer of all time in your side. A player that elevates every person around you. After the goal they took it up a level that we couldnt deal with and you can deconstruct the situation and find this or that wrong with the minutae of game, but fair play to Scaloni for changing  the style and tactics for that last hour. He got one over Tuchel there in fairness but we just couldn't get the ball off them and I could see why he made those subs. And if Argentina could do that to us then Spain would simply use us a plaything in the final.

Anyway, thats how I saw it.

 

 

 

Fully understand and agree to a certain level, I think Tuchel compounded the situation and if he’d gone more positive he’d have less criticism. 

As England play best with high tempo and counter attacks, he should have made more use of the squad, especially with an extra round to consider. 

[trousers]

7 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I know Grealish is past his best and injured but it was made for someone like him, give him the ball, keep hold of it, win free kicks, slow the game down and he has that quality in tight spaces to create something, but we NEVER use players like that properly. It's always about speed and strength.

Grealish is 9 years younger than Messi.... Bloody frustrating that our 'star' players seem to fade once they hit 30 yet the likes of Messi continue to mature like a fine wine....

Edited 6 hours ago by trousers

[AlexLaw76]

It was the Gordon for Konsa sub that hit home that Tuchel's head had gone.

Just insane. It was like we went down to 10 men. 

I will also add that Kane is being managed appallingly or is incredibly selfish given how ridiculously deep he drops

Edited 6 hours ago by AlexLaw76

[BallBoy]

Throw them out of the competition! They broke a little known rule with their Malvinas banner. England to play in the final and the 3rd/4th place game scrapped. In addition dock Argentina 4 points for the next world cup. Seems perfectly fair to me. There is precedent.

[saintstowin]

I think he delayed the like for like subs because we scored and then when the team couldn't adapt to the lead and still have some kind of threat, he reverted to those very negative subs. There was that 10-15 minute spell after we scored where the game - with hindsight - was lost because if we'd shown any ability to not sit back, and to be able to keep the ball, then maybe the changes would have been different. 

However. It's on the manager to be able to think and sub creatively rather than say 'well we're not getting forward so let's go ultra defensive then'.

The inability to have possession is to an extent on the players and their skills, but the subs and shape is on him. 

If Saints were one up, even against top opposition, I'd expect us not to do what England did in terms of changes. In fact it was reminiscent of our 5 at the back, everyone got in each other's way and there was no midfield at all.

[Sunglasses Ron]

1 hour ago, Football Special said:

Disappointing, reminded me a bit of our fa cup semi final defeat to Man City 

Cant really argue with the result overall but we'd been allowed to dream and get our hopes up. 

Exactly this.

Of course, playing this way we DID beat Man City 1-0 a few years ago (Che Adams stunner) and also drew 0-0 with them last year (to avoid the record low points total).  How we survived I'll never know, but the point is that England aren't Saints and Argentina aren't Man City and this approach was absolute suicide.  

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

49 minutes ago, Turkish said:

We have them going forward, Palmer, Foden, Grealish a few years ago were these sort of player that we dont use properly. In this tournament we went for pace and strength as usual instead then didn't use it properly.

What we've lack for years is that controlling central midfield player, a player that can dictate the tempo, do the simple things well, keep the ball moving etc. Michael Carrick was the nearest thing we've had to that in recent years and IMO should have been the first name on Englands team sheet in those days.  We dont seem to like those sort of players when we have them they get labelled as boring, sideways & backwards type players because they're not spectacular, exciting players who score goals and create chance after chance.

Michael Carrick / Hargreaves / Scholes all sacrificed on the alter of the Lampard / Gerard axis. Which did not click (imo) for a lot of the time in big games.

Going forwards hopefully Henderson will be off, who do England have?

Anderson / Rice 

Wharton

Gibbs White

Mainoo

Scott

Apart from Anderson, are the rest of them good enough or can they step up? I bloody hope so. 

[skintsaint]

4 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Michael Carrick / Hargreaves / Scholes all sacrificed on the alter of the Lampard / Gerard axis. Which did not click (imo) for a lot of the time in big games.

Going forwards hopefully Henderson will be off, who do England have?

Anderson / Rice 

Wharton

Gibbs White

Mainoo

Scott

Apart from Anderson, are the rest of them good enough or can they step up? I bloody hope so. 

Wharton was needed last night, and Gibbs White should have been on the plane.....but left at home for Henderson and Mainoo who for some reason didn't play one minute, TT even put full backs in midfield more than once this World Cup.

[AlexLaw76]

The streets will never forget

[whelk]

I find I am even angrier with Tuchel now than last night. Honestly worst I have seen an England manager perform in my lifetime. 

[whelk]

Southgate was frustrating but never had anything close to this rage against such a negative cunt. Compare with 1990 and how Bobby Robson was defeated but was still loved and respected. I would worry for Tuchel going out in public 

Edited 5 hours ago by whelk

[AlexLaw76]

10 minutes ago, whelk said:

Southgate was frustrating but never had anything close to this rage against such a negative cunt. Compare with 1990 and how Bobby Robson was defeated but was still loved and respected. I would worry for Tuchel going out in public 

We were pretty rubbish all tournament but found a way through. But holy shit, last night was worse than any decision Southgate ever made.

[James G]

I think Argentina would have beaten us regardless. They conserve energy for 60 minutes, then increase the tempo in the last 30 minutes. England played well for 60 minutes, then got tired. Spain would have beaten us as well.

Tuchel needs to figure out how to manage those 30 minutes

[Turkish]

59 minutes ago, trousers said:

Grealish is 9 years younger than Messi.... Bloody frustrating that our 'star' players seem to fade once they hit 30 yet the likes of Messi continue to mature like a fine wine....

English mentality, pace, strength, power. Once a player starts slowing down they get written off as their legs have gone. Messi has adapted his game to where he is now, hes a different sort of player to what he was 10 years ago, obviously you're talking about an all time great here but how many English players adapt their game so well? I'd add to that how many get the chance to?

I still think a lot of the problem is the South American and South European teams create footballers first, whereas we take athletes and try and turn them into footballers. Im seeing it now at U13s level, bigger, stronger earlier developing kids who aren't good footballers are 95% of the time prefferred over smaller players who haven't developed phyically yet. It was like it when i was a kid 35 years ago and nothing has changed despite all the stuff we get told.

[sockeye]

14 minutes ago, Turkish said:

whereas we take athletes and try and turn them into footballers

We need to cut that out. It's the way of the Yank. 

[CheshireSaint]

Football is all about momentum. Southgate failed to see what the whole country could see in the Euro final, when Italy began to gain momentum. He sat on his hands and eventually went defensive. Last night was the same. We saw the same against Mexico. Granted, we were down to 10 men at that point so perhaps fair enough. Against Norway, we did the same. Holding on against fooking Norway. 

Last night was the most cowardly attempt at football management I have ever seen. Tuchel went on to say that we had to defend the amount of crosses coming in. What a d1ck. If he can identify the number of crosses coming in is an issue, then prevent them coming in! It's that simple. Get 5 across the middle and battle there, not on the edge of our 6 yard box. 

It was a disgrace. 

[benjii]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

I know Grealish is past his best and injured but it was made for someone like him, give him the ball, keep hold of it, win free kicks, slow the game down and he has that quality in tight spaces to create something, but we NEVER use players like that properly. It's always about speed and strength.

Cole Palmer. Leave him at home and take Madueke and Henderson.

[benjii]

49 minutes ago, Turkish said:

English mentality, pace, strength, power. Once a player starts slowing down they get written off as their legs have gone. Messi has adapted his game to where he is now, hes a different sort of player to what he was 10 years ago, obviously you're talking about an all time great here but how many English players adapt their game so well? I'd add to that how many get the chance to?

I still think a lot of the problem is the South American and South European teams create footballers first, whereas we take athletes and try and turn them into footballers. Im seeing it now at U13s level, bigger, stronger earlier developing kids who aren't good footballers are 95% of the time prefferred over smaller players who haven't developed phyically yet. It was like it when i was a kid 35 years ago and nothing has changed despite all the stuff we get told.

Teddy Sheringham. He had a yard of pace in his head, you know.

[Chez]

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

The streets will never forget

1990 World Cup apart, I've always hated five at the back. Six at the back? Bloody nora.  We just had lots of players standing around in our own box with no one to mark while our midfielders were overrun, never got close to their opponent, never regained possession and had no one to pass to if they do. No out ball, no restbite, no chance. I can understand it if you are up against an opponent that is vastly superior, but it was just a short period of them opening us up. No need to go five at the back at that point. He just needed to get fresh legs on in midfield and up front and get some pressure back on the ball.  

[Saint NL]

1 hour ago, whelk said:

I find I am even angrier with Tuchel now than last night. Honestly worst I have seen an England manager perform in my lifetime. 

At least everyone can see it, even the BBC articles are openly questioning the manager. He surely can't stay on for the Euros.

[Chez]

2 minutes ago, benjii said:

Cole Palmer. Leave him at home and take Madueke and Henderson.

The squad balance was really poor. 

I guess now we know why Chalobah was brought in...we needed as many centre backs as possible.

 

[Osvaldorama]

1 hour ago, saintstowin said:

I think he delayed the like for like subs because we scored and then when the team couldn't adapt to the lead and still have some kind of threat, he reverted to those very negative subs. There was that 10-15 minute spell after we scored where the game - with hindsight - was lost because if we'd shown any ability to not sit back, and to be able to keep the ball, then maybe the changes would have been different. 

However. It's on the manager to be able to think and sub creatively rather than say 'well we're not getting forward so let's go ultra defensive then'.

The inability to have possession is to an extent on the players and their skills, but the subs and shape is on him. 

If Saints were one up, even against top opposition, I'd expect us not to do what England did in terms of changes. In fact it was reminiscent of our 5 at the back, everyone got in each other's way and there was no midfield at all.

You wouldn’t even see such stupid tactics at Sunday league, let alone saints level 

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

The best form of defence is a good offence.The England squad's strength is quite clearly their attackers, rather than defenders. Sitting back and making negative changes was never going to be enough against Argentina.

Everyone could see it. 

Except Tuchel. Sack him.

I'm still more pissed off than I've been about football for a long, long time. And I'm a Saints fan, I'm always pissed off about football.

Edited 4 hours ago by Stripey McStripe Shirt

[Chez]

1 minute ago, Saint NL said:

At least everyone can see it, even the BBC articles are openly questioning the manager. He surely can't stay on for the Euros.

I still think international sides should have a manager (and every other position/job come to that) from that nation. International football is meant to be about what you as a nation has to offer. 

[Chez]

1 minute ago, Stripey McStripe Shirt said:

The best form of defence is a good offence.The England squad's strength is quite clearly their attackers, rather than defenders. Sitting back and making negative changes was never going to be enough against Argentina.

Everyone could see it. 

Except Tuchel. Sack him.

I'm still more pissed off than I've been about football for a long, long time. And I'm a Saints fan, I'm always pissed off about football.

likewise. Still extremely annoyed. Normally I'm just gutted, but Tuchel fucked us.

[East Kent Saint]

1. first half was more like cage fighting , sliding tackles followed by other leg swiping England players leg  2. Use of flailing arms at close quarters 3. fore arm smash to England players neck 4. constant pushing even when ball gone 5. Shirt pulling and grappling etc etc and what happened one yellow card . On here and the press it's like it never happened !!!!

Not surprisingly Argentina actually have skilful players , when they want to be .

As said previously England needed a fit squad and the best players but it didn't happen . I have learnt since 1970 3-2 loss after being 2 goals up against West Germany that it's best to not to get intense when watching England 😄

[CheshireSaint]

If the Argentina coach could have picked our subs, he wouldn't have been far different to Tuchel last night. We gifted them that game. He has to go. He put a full back on, into midfield when he had a good midfielder on the bench (Mainoo). He did the same against Norway putting James on in midfield with Mainoo ignored. His squad selection was stupid in the first place. Henderson as a mascot instead of Gibbs White and others. Madueke who I think is terrible at international level, is another. Saka not fit. 

Their first goal - ball played across the area, exactly where a midfielder would have been had he not been replaced with a defender, sitting on the 6 yard line. To give up possession like that and invite the opposition to the edge of our box was footballing suicide and is not to be expected from any coach with a semblance of football knowledge. To then double down in his aftermatch comments that he has no regrets just shows he is as ignorant as he is stupid. Auf Wiedersehen you bell.

[Sunglasses Ron]

Don't worry everyone, the BBC is here to make us feel better:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gy5jwjvz7o

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

25 minutes ago, Sunglasses Ron said:

Don't worry everyone, the BBC is here to make us feel better:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gy5jwjvz7o

Excellent. I'm feeling better already.